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Mission: Impossible: Special Edition (US - DVD R1)

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to check out Matt's review

Feature You’d be hard pressed to argue that 1996 wasn’t a great year for Tom Cruise at the box office. He was once again nominated for an Academy Award for his work in the year’s fourth highest grossing film, Jerry Maguire, and Mission: Impossible would finish out the summer as the year’s third highest grosser and his biggest box office hit ever at the time—not to mention it was a film in which he had a personal stake in as a first time producer.

Now unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past ten years you already know the basic plot of the film, but if you don’t Mission: Impossible is very loosely based on the television series that first aired in the late sixties, and again during a short lived revival in the late eighties, which followed the exploits of a revolving team of secret agents trotting around the globe and saving the day on a week-to-week basis. The 1996 update finds IMF agent Ethan Hunt (Cruise) at the center of the action, and after a mission to intercept a spy goes horribly wrong his entire team is killed leaving him as the sole survivor. Hunt quickly learns that the entire operation was a ruse to flush out a possible mole in the department, and since he remains the only member of his team left all fingers point to him as the traitor. Determined to catch the real mole, clear his name, and make the world safe again, Hunt goes on the offensive, and in typical secret agent fashion, begins playing all sides of the conspiracy against one another to get his man.

There isn’t much that already hasn’t been written about this blockbuster flick over the past ten years since it first showed up in theatres, but for the most part Mission: Impossible is a well crafted espionage thriller, even if the interchangeable characters are fairly cardboard and the plot that drives it gets in the way at times by getting overly complicated. It’s one of those movies that if you miss a few minutes, it’ll take a little time to get back into the swing of things but you won’t pull your hair out in doing so.

Mission: Impossible is also quite atypical of what you would expect from a major summer movie in that it was widely touted as an action picture, but outside of its climax actually contains very few scenes of what most moviegoers would consider high octane thrills. Instead, director Brain De Palma does what he does best in creating tense moments where inaction, rather than action, is the operative word. Scenes such as the one that finds Cruise dangling above the floor of a highly secured room in CIA headquarters provide edge of your seat stuff, and the whole scene is pulled off without a single gunshot.

Those who like a little more action with their spies will more than likely find the John Woo directed Mission: Impossible-II with it’s roundhouse-kick-a-minute hijinks more to their liking, but I’ll take this first Mission over it any day of the week. Sure, it’s mostly just an opportunity for Tom Cruise to play James Bond without infringing on any trademarks or copyrights, but it’s all good fun and ten years later still an enjoyable, two-hour diversion.

Video Paramount Home Entertainment has given fans of Mission: Impossible what they have been waiting for since its first release to DVD by providing this edition with an anamorphically enhanced picture at the film’s theatrically exhibited aspect ratio of 2.35:1. The new transfer on this disc is leaps and bounds better than the previous disc and should be the main reason that those who already own the older one will want to purchase the title for a second time.

The higher bit rate afforded this transfer allows for a nice, detailed picture that suffers from very little in the way of edge enhancement, grain, or pixilation, and darker colours are rich and deep while the film’s brighter scenes pop off the screen. On the down side, the movie itself looks a bit soft at times, and artefacts caused by debris on the source print, though not present to the extent that they detract from the overall enjoyment of the movie, are present throughout, which is a bit of a disappointment seeing as the film was released just ten years ago. Overall, Paramount has done well by the title, but a major release such as this should be near perfect and this transfer, starting with its source, just isn’t.

Audio This new edition of Mission: Impossible features in its bag of tricks a Dolby Digital 5.1 track in English, accompanied by Dolby Surround 2.0 tracks in English and French along with English and Spanish subtitles. The 5.1 track showcased on the disc is near reference quality as far as such tracks go, allowing the film’s ambient at times and raucous at others soundtrack to take full advantage of your home theatre setup. Dialogue is crisp and clear from the centre channel and actions scenes, such as the train sequence, utilize the surround channels to full effect, while Danny Elfman’s score is richly reproduced and effective throughout the movie. Overall, Dolby Digital tracks don’t get much better than this, but the upgrade to a DTS track to go along with it and the improved video would have made the technical side of the disc all the sweeter.

Extras While Paramount’s original release of Mission: Impossible contained only the film’s theatrical trailer as its lone special feature, this new edition comes with a series of extras that include several featurettes, the film’s teaser and TV spots, and a few other items in addition to the previously mentioned trailer.

First up is a series of five featurettes, Mission: Remarkable – 40 Years of Creating the Impossible (11 mins.), Mission: Explosive Exploits (5 mins.), Mission: Catching the Train (3 mins.), Mission: Spies Among Us (9 mins.), and Mission: International Spy Museum (6 mins.), which make up the bulk of the special features on the disc, and all are full screen with optional subtitles in English, French and Spanish. The first three featurettes listed focus on certain aspects of the film such as the genesis of bringing Mission: Impossible from the small to the silver screen, the stunt work involved in the film and an explanation of the effects work behind the picture’s explosive finale respectively.

Most of the interview footage found in each of the three pieces is older material dating back to the time when either the first film or the second were originally made, and at a combined running time of about eighteen minutes barely scratches the surface on what was surely a major undertaking in producing the film. In addition to the relative brevity of the featurettes, the pieces aren’t all that informative anyway and are padded with a lot of the usual pats on the back and “we made a great movie” moments.

The next two featurettes are not focused on the actual production of the film, but are at least more interesting— Mission: International Spy Museum is a look at the history and gadgets found in Washington D.C.’s International Spy Museum, while Mission: Spies Among Us features interviews with various individuals who are, shall we say, experts in the field. Like I said, they’re a bit more interesting than the actual behind-the-scenes stuff, but in truth that really isn’t saying much and you’ll quickly forget about them after switching over to something else on the disc’s menu.

The next features you’ll encounter are two montages featuring various clips, dialogue, and music from the films spanning the career of Tom Cruise, each with running times of approximately nine and three minutes, and each followed by acceptance speeches given by Cruise as the recipient of both the 2005 Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Film and MTV’s Generation Award. For Tom Cruise fans I’m sure the inclusion of these tidbits are nice-to-haves, but for everyone else disappointed with the first five featurettes and looking for some more info on Mission: Impossible they are a total waste of disc space.

Rounding out the disc are the movie’s teaser and theatrical trailers, nine television spots, a still gallery, detailed profiles on each of the IMF agents in the film (which is curiously missing Jean Reno’s character), and, surprise, the teaser trailer for the upcoming Mission Impossible-III.

Overall—as if it weren’t obvious to you by now—I was quite letdown by both the quality and quantity of the extras included with this ‘Special Collector’s Edition’ of the movie. I know I shouldn’t be surprised by it, but with no decent information on the production, something that a commentary track of some sort would have aided in immensely, I get the distinct impression that this disc has more to do with promoting the new movie than giving fans of the film a worthwhile disc—and the inclusion of a free movie ticket to the third film just solidifies those feelings. Comparing this release to some other discs, there are plenty of older catalog titles re-released for the exact same reason that have a lot more to offer, and most of those discs are for movies far less superior to this one. The upside to this, however, is that since a free ticket is included, this disc could end up costing you only a few dollars depending on movie theatre prices in your area and the amount you paid for the DVD. This is assuming that you plan on seeing Mission Impossible-III during its first couple weeks of release of course, but when someone else is paying why wouldn't you?

Overall Mission: Impossible is a fun, escapist ride for most of its 110 minute running time and contains plenty of intrigue and just enough action to keep most people entertained, even if it’s rather simple plot tends to get a bit unnecessarily convoluted from time to time. For a DVD marking the film’s tenth anniversary a lot of fans are going to find themselves more disappointed than thrilled; while the decent video transfer is a big step up from Paramount’s original, non-anamorphic release and the Dolby 5.1 audio is near reference quality, the bevy of extras that you would expect to be included is rather thin and at times completely pointless to those interested in just some behind-the-scenes information on the making of the film. Overall, if it weren’t for the enhanced video found here I would’ve been just as happy sticking with my older disc, so it remains up to you to decide if the upgrade is worth taking another dip yourself.

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TO : Matt the Reviewer, I refuse to accept that this transfer is leaps and bounds an improvement over the earlier non-anamorphic release. The new release still retains edge enhancement problem, washed out colors in some scenes and general lack of clean up of artifacts allover. Looks like an old transfer done anamorphic. That IS all...

Metal Slug wrote: I miss the days when Cruise used to be normal. These days, it isn't even possible to be a Cruise fan. The man was in ' Eyes Wide Shut,' so I would have liked to say I am a fan. Unfortunately I cannot do it anymore.

same here.

Deleted Member

I miss the days when Cruise used to be normal. These days, it isn't even possible to be a Cruise fan. The man was in ' Eyes Wide Shut,' so I would have liked to say I am a fan. Unfortunately I cannot do it anymore.

Bradavon wrote: So the new second disc (for MI:II) is just fluff for MI3 after all? Not exactly...they're the same extras that can be found on the new SCE of Mission: Impossible, so if you already have the original release of Mission: Impossible-II and this new SCE of Mission:Impossible you aren't missing anything since the first disc of the MI-II set is the exact same disc that has been available for a few years now.

Do any DePalma films except for MI have a sequel? I can't think of any.

Personally I loved MI2 as a well made action flick in the type of Face/Off and The Rock.

MI was decent and as it's much more like the TV show it has that going for it but for me I always find MI2 much more enjoyable. The action scenes are really well made.

Matt wrote: The Mission: Impossible-II disc was just a re-issue of the older release, so no, probably won't be reviewing that one. We do, however, have a few older reviews of it on the site. So the new second disc is just fluff for MI3 after all?

JackJackMN wrote: Sucks the old transfer isn't anamorphic. Does it matter now it's been fixed? You should be pleased it's been fixed.

Europe's MI: Special Edition is a re-release of the old 5 year old DVD with a second disc compromising the R1 SE's extras. Sure it's anamorphic but if America can get a remastered picture then the rest of the world should too.

The new R1 SE picture quality is said to be better than the old R2 picture quality.

Sucks the old transfer isn't anamorphic. I love MI1, MI2 is OK. I looked an MI2 is anamorphic so no need fo the box set. I loved the soundtrack for MI1 and thick MI2 was so far off base from the first that it didn;t even seem lie the same franchise. I have to see if MI1 is $10 at Target. MI3 looks cool from what I've seen in the trailer.

Steven Carrier wrote: Will you put up a review for the new DVD for "Mission: Impossible II"? I would really like to know what you guys thought of that film and new set... The Mission: Impossible-II disc was just a re-issue of the older release, so no, probably won't be reviewing that one. We do, however, have a few older reviews of it on the site.

I love "Mission: Impossible", its a great spy flick. The DVD, I thought, was decent. Yes, the bonus materials are pretty fluffy but its better then nothing. I did not like "Mission: Impossible II" as much, it has its moments but it was pretty dissapointing. I cannot wait for "Mission: Impossible III", it looks so good.

Will you put up a review for the new DVD for "Mission: Impossible II"? I would really like to know what you guys thought of that film and new set...

robert garcia wrote: Would've been great if DePalma had directed Mission Impossible 2. I've read numerous places that De Palma and Cruise didn't quite see eye to eye during the making of the movie, so that might have had something to do with him not returning. On the other hand, I've also heard that Cruise, as the producer, never intended to hire the same director twice on any of these films so that each one would be unique in their own way, so who knows what to believe.

Even though I only half-heartedly enjoyed the second film, I'm really looking forward to what Abrams will do with the third. I have a feeling it will be pretty much an amalgamation of the first two, and I hope he finds the right balance between them to make a great action thriller.

I hadn't bought MI:1 and 2 yet, so I picked this up, the fairly priced 2-disc box set. The 1st film is excellent, the 2nd film is just an average good action movie. Glad I pretty much paid for 1 dvd. I will never upgrade if they have any plans (Paramount) to do something else with these films, and the third one. Nice review!

I loved both this one and MI:2. I just bought the box set with both today. I got both of them for essentially $18 bucks where had I bought each apart M:I is $14 and MI:2 is $10 at Wal-Mart. You can save yourself $6 bucks if any of you have noticed that or will look out for that.

Bradavon wrote: Is any chance you can get your hands on a copy of one of the old anamorphic non-R1 DVDs for comparison? How does the DD5.1 compare to the old R1? Has that been remastered too? I have the older R1 disc and there is a big difference between the two going from the 4x3 image to the 16x9; the image is much sharper and detailed given that the number of lines dedicated solely to the actual image is greater. The only slightly dissappointing thing is that they used the same print as the first disc and haven't re-mastered the source, though the DVD-Video transfer is obviously new with the anamorphic enhancement. As for the audio, I didn't check to be sure, but I believe it is the same audio track as before...I'll have to check the disc later and get back on that one.

EDIT:The DD 5.1 track looks like it's the same as on the older release.

Lincoln6Echo wrote: I have to disagree on the video quality. I thought it was fantastic. The artifacting and debris you speak of, find I did not. I thought it was a nice clean crisp image. Was there softness? Oh maybe at times, but not enough to detract from the enjoyment of the film. No, the softness didn't take away from the transfer too much, but there is an awful lot of artifacting from dirt and debris on the source print, most of which is noticeable near the beginning of each reel on the transferred print and a few places in between. I would expect this from an older movie or one that didn't have such high standing in a studio's library, but Mission: Impossible is only ten years old and a major studio film, and when you compare it to DVDs for films the same age and standing, such as Independence Day, you'll find that those prints are much cleaner than the one on this disc. But like I stated, overall it isn't a bad transfer, in fact it's quite good and much better than what I've been watching for the past several years, it's just not as good as what other similar titles have received.

I have to disagree on the video quality. I thought it was fantastic. The artifacting and debris you speak of, find I did not. I thought it was a nice clean crisp image. Was there softness? Oh maybe at times, but not enough to detract from the enjoyment of the film. I haven't seen this film since I saw it back in the theaters 10 years ago and it looked pretty good for a 10 year old film.